


Imprisoned

by wordbending



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Nothing major though, Possession, some kris/ralsei if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 18:39:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17167238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordbending/pseuds/wordbending
Summary: Ralsei isn't completely oblivious. He knows he's never been speaking to therealKris.But, now that he finally gets a chance to, just what is he supposed to say...?





	Imprisoned

“Close your eyes, and think about what she’s doing now…” Ralsei said, and Kris closed their eyes to focus on Susie.

Or, rather, “Kris” closed “their” eyes. Ralsei wasn’t completely oblivious - he knew that he’d never been speaking to the real Kris at all. He could tell, by the weird way they walked, and talked, their lack of expression… there was something _off_ about them, something he didn’t feel with Susie.

Now he could speak to the _real_ Kris.

“Kris,” he said, to their seated body, collapsed like a ragdoll onto the floor - another sign that something about them wasn’t quite right. It was only because they breathed that he even knew they were still alive. “Are you there? Can you hear me? Don’t open your eyes.”

Kris nodded.

Ralsei sat down next to them, sitting on his knees.

“Good. It was hard to get rid of _them,_ but I’m glad we can finally talk. Just me and you.”

Kris didn’t respond. They just breathed, in and out, so Ralsei continued talking.

“Um…” Ralsei started to say, wincing as he suddenly realized he wasn’t sure _what_ he had wanted to say. There was one thing, a very important thing, but first… “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Kris said, in a tone they’d never used before, but they were frowning - it was the first time he'd seen any expression on their face at all. Even Ralsei could tell that they were anything but fine.

“You’re not fine,” Ralsei said. “You don’t have a soul. You don’t have love or compassion, right? Don’t you want those things? Don’t you want freedom from that… from that thing? The thing that controls you?”

Kris’ glove squeaked as they tightened a fist. “Of course I do.”

“You want to fulfill your destiny on your own terms, don’t you? Just like I want to serve Lightners. I wouldn’t want someone… controlling _me_.”

“I don’t want any of that. I don’t want a destiny,” Kris said. “I just want to be left alone.”

Ralsei frowned. “You don’t really want that. You don’t want to live like I have. Alone, I mean.”

“Yes,” said Kris. “I do.”

“Don’t you feel…”

Then Ralsei realized something. He was going to say “miserable”... but that was strange, wasn’t it? He didn’t feel that way, did he? Serving Lightners… it was the only thing that made him happy. It was his whole reason for being.

Wasn’t it?

But it didn’t make him happy. It just made him feel…

“You’re empty inside,” Ralsei said, raising his paw to his chest. As he spoke, he realized something about himself that he never had before. “Just like me.”

“You’re not empty,” Kris said quietly.

Ralsei frowned. When he spoke, it was all in a jumble, the words pouring out. “But I _am._ I only exist to serve Lightners, like you and Susie. That’s my only purpose, the reason I was born, the reason I waited for you and Susie for so long! You feel that way too, right? It’s… it’s horrible, isn’t it? I don’t even have a real form. I’m just darkness, given shape by the fountains.”

Kris shook their head. “I don’t serve anyone. I have no purpose.”

Ralsei nodded, even though Kris couldn’t see it. He didn’t know what to say, so he just opened and closed his mouth over and over. At last, he managed to speak. “I know… I know you feel that way. Empty and directionless. You must, because you don’t have a soul of your own, to give you love and compassion. But… you’re the hero of prophecy. You’re the one who is going to save the world, to seal away the Angel’s Heaven. And… if _you_ don’t have a purpose, then… what do I have?”

Kris shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Ralsei took a deep breath to try to calm himself and tried again. If his purpose was to serve Lightners, then surely, setting them on the right path was part of that? Surely, Kris did have some sort of purpose of their own! “On the surface world, you have friends, right?”

“No.”

“Family?”

“Most of them are gone. I only have my mother.”

“What do you do on the surface world?”

“Go to school, I guess. Go to church sometimes. Make my mother happy.”

Ralsei didn’t know what “school” or “church” were, but…

“Well, that’s something, isn’t it?” Ralsei said, brightening a little. “A purpose.”

“No, it isn’t. Everyone goes to school. Everyone goes to church. Everyone makes their mother happy.” Kris shrugged. “I’m not special. I don’t... want to be special. I just want… that thing to leave me… to leave me alone.”

“The soul,” Ralsei nodded. That made sense. “I’m sorry. I wish I could do something about it, but I have no power over it.”

“It’s… it’s fine,” Kris said, but their body shook. Ralsei could see the beginnings of tears - he’d never seen Kris cry before. He reached out, but he was afraid if he touched their shoulder, he would startle them and they would “wake up.” So he just sat there, feeling awkward.

Some servant of Lightners he was.

Without opening their eyes, Kris reached up and rubbed at their eyes with their arm. “Sorry for crying.”

“It’s OK!” Ralsei said quickly. “It’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with crying, Kris.”

Kris nodded. For a moment, they were silent, then they spoke up again. “Did you mean what you said? About feeling ‘horrible’? About feeling like you have no purpose?”

Ralsei frowned. “...Yes. I meant every word. I try to pretend otherwise. I try to pretend it doesn’t bother me, that I only exist to serve someone else. I even try to pretend that it makes me happy. And… it does make me happy. But only a little bit. It’s not like it’s supposed to be.”

“You don’t feel complete,” Kris said.

Ralsei slowly nodded his head. “That’s right. I don’t.”

“I know how that feels,” Kris said. “I used to feel complete. When my brother was around, and my father too. I used to draw pictures of dragons, and read books, and go to church because I wanted to… not just for the fruit juice.”

“The... fruit juice?” Ralsei said, tilting his head.

“Nothing,” Kris said, smiling. “Don’t worry about it.”

“OK.”

“Anyway. I got possessed before, after my parents got divorced. By one of those soul things. It took me over, made me…” Kris shuddered. “Weird. So I destroyed it all. Everything in my room. My drawings, my books. I went to my locker and I threw everything in it to the ground, tore it apart with my bare hands. Now I’m…” They raised a hand to their chest. “As empty on the outside as I am on the inside.”

Ralsei tried to imagine it. He didn’t understand a lot of it, but… it sounded horrible.

“So you made yourself like me,” Ralsei said, trying to understand, trying to sympathize. “All alone.”

“Yes,” Kris replied. “Alone and without meaning. I tried to make it as if I didn’t exist, so that _thing_ would… would go away, forever.”

“And it didn’t work.”

“No,” Kris spat. “It didn’t.”

Ralsei felt worse for Kris than ever. He’d known something was wrong with Kris from the moment they’d met, but he’d never imagined that they had gone through something so horrible.

Ralsei scooted over to them and rested his head on their shoulder, very gently and carefully so that they wouldn’t “wake up.” They flinched, for a second, but their eyes stayed shut.

“I’m sorry,” Ralsei said.

“Don’t be,” Kris said. “Don’t feel sorry for me.”

Ralsei didn’t move from Kris’ shoulder. “OK. I won’t.”

After a moment, Kris spoke again, more quietly. “Feel sorry for me.”

Ralsei still didn’t move from Kris’ shoulder. “OK. I will.”

Just as quietly, they said, “Feel how you want to feel.”

“OK. I…” Ralsei blinked. “Huh?”

“Feel how you want to feel. Not how I tell you to.”

“But, if I listen to you tell me to do that, aren’t I still following your orders?”

Kris rested their head against Ralsei’s. Ralsei immediately blushed at the contact - he felt foolish and embarrassed for blushing, which just made him blush harder.

“I guess so,” said Kris.

“I guess I can’t win then,” said Ralsei, smiling.

“I guess not.”

A pause.

“You don’t exist just to serve Lightners or whatever,” Kris said. “You’re my friend.”

“But we only just met,” Ralsei replied. “A few minutes ago.”

“I don’t care,” said Kris. “You’re my friend. I’m happy I met you.”

Ralsei beamed. “I’m happy I met you too, Kris. So, please, because you’re my friend… don’t feel like you don’t have a purpose. You do now. And it’s being _my_ friend.”

Kris nodded slowly. “OK. I can do that.”

Ralsei took a deep breath. Now came the hard part, the real reason he’d gotten rid of _them._ He scooted away from Kris, taking his head off their shoulder. “Now… Kris, there’s something I have to tell you. About myself. About the fountains. And _they_ can’t know about it.”

“They won’t.”

“Well, you see… somehow, they’re listening right now. I can feel it. So keep your eyes closed and focus on just the sound of my voice… don’t let _them_ take control.”

They took a deep breath. “OK.”

“The truth is…”

* * *

“...And that’s why, OK, Kris?”

Suddenly, Kris stood up, their body becoming stiff and rigid, their expression becoming blank. And that was how Ralsei knew, instantly, that _they_ had come back.

He stood up too. He wanted to say to them, “We’ll talk later, OK?” but he didn’t want the thing controlling them to overhear.

So, instead, he took Kris’ hand and squeezed it. Maybe if they were still in there, somewhere, they could feel it.

They didn’t squeeze his paw back. They didn’t react at all.

But, he hoped, on some level, they appreciated the gesture.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to [light_rises](https://archiveofourown.org/users/light_rises/pseuds/light_rises) and [KiraYoshikage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiraYoshikage</a) for betaing this fic for me!


End file.
